Quotes of the day

posted at 8:41 pm on July 12, 2013 by Allahpundit

To understand the Zimmerman case, you have to live in a neighborhood that has just enough property values to keep you paying the mortgage and just enough proximity to dangerous territories to make you feel like you’re living on the frontier.

The chain of events doesn’t make much sense to the elites, which is one reason why they assume that the explanation must be racism There weren’t a lot of New Yorker readers cheering as Charles Bronson’s Paul Kersey stalked the subways and parks of the city blowing away hoods. The perfect target audience for the Death Wish movies or for Goetz saying “You don’t look too bad, here’s another” was that bottom half of the middle class that didn’t have enough money to leave the city and didn’t have enough liberalism to accept the violence as their just due.

George Zimmerman wanted to to be a cop. Trayvon Martin wanted to be a hood. It’s quite possible that Martin got no closer to his ambition than Zimmerman got to his. Both men were just going through the motions on the edge of a game of cops-and-robbers that suddenly turned deadly real. And even in a country where the thug tops the entertainment heap, the vulnerable parts of the middle class have more sympathy for aspiring cops than for aspiring thugs.

***

Think about it: We’re told over and over that if Zimmerman was afraid of Martin, according to Florida law, he had the right to put a bullet in the chamber of his concealed handgun, get out of his car after being told not to by the 911 dispatcher and follow and confront Martin and shoot him to death.

At the same time, we are told that Martin, who had far greater reason to fear Zimmerman, practically and for reasons of American history, did not have the right to confront his stalker, stand his ground and defend himself, including by using his fists. We are told that this was entirely unjustified and by doing so, Martin justified his own execution.

The phrases “stand your ground” and “self-defense” have been repeated endlessly by anchors, pundits, analysts and experts, but rarely applied to Martin…

One thing I feel sure of is that if Martin, in fear for his life, had used Zimmerman’s own gun to shoot and possibly kill his attacker, when the police arrived on the scene, they would not have failed to charge him with murder.

***

“While this case has brought a great deal of emotion, there is no tension in Seminole County,” Eslinger asserted. “Let me repeat that. I cannot speak for any other jurisdiction but I have to tell you, we recognize that this case has stirred up a great deal of emotion, but we’re not seeing tension here in Seminole County. There’s no party involved in this case who wants to see any violence. And we have every expectation upon the announcement of this verdict, that our community and its visitors will continue to act peacefully.”…

Chief Smith took a similar tone, noting that an arrest and a trial have been occurred, fulfilling the desires of the protestors who descended upon Sanford, Fl., 16 months ago following news of Martin’s death.

“As we await this verdict, we would like to remind everyone that the city of Sanford has been a peaceful location since that time 17 months ago,” he said, “and it remains a peaceful location.”

He concluded by suggesting the city can use this trial as an opportunity to come together: “We’re not sure what the verdict is going bring out, but, at the same time, it’s a great opportunity for evolution within the Sanford community, and showing how we as a community can involve or evolve to do better and be better. to ensure that we have an opportunity to speak our peace, peacefully. To come together, peacefully.”

***

The worst thing about America is the politicization of everything.

Why the hell must I pick a side in the George Zimmerman trial? A 17 year old boy is dead and a man who may or may not be guilty of murder is on trial but, even if not guilty, will never again be safe because so much outrage and so much politicization has been poured into the trial. A 17 year old is dead. Why am I forced, as a conservative, to cheer for the guy who took his life? And you people who support Trayvon, how are you given a pass on seeing things from George Zimmerman’s perspective? Why must I decide on the guilt or innocence of George Zimmerman based on the outrage of people whose politics differ from mine? Why must a death and trial comport to a political world view?!

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According to the talking heads, unless there is a mistrial or an acquittal, Zimmerman is going to spend 25 years in jail.

Cindy Munford on July 13, 2013 at 12:13 PM

I believe they thru in an aggravated assault which has a max of 5 years and no gun enhancement. Still a 5 year sentence would be a travesty and make no mistake about it, Nelson will max him out. And she’ll go on record berating him again. She really is disgusting. And every time I hear some of those legal commentators claim she is fair, I want to hurl.

If Legal Insurrection is correct, that appears to be the choices. There is no “middle” ground for the jury.

Cindy Munford on July 13, 2013 at 12:50 PM

Unfortunately the jury does not know about the max sentence for manslaughter.

If they wimp out and opt for that as a “compromise” verdict they may be surprised when Zimmerman is sentenced to 30 years. They will be even more surprised, and likely regretful, when they find out what was on Martin’s cell phone. Martin liked to fight and he knew how to fight.

I guess the cellphone stuff was kept out because they couldn’t prove that Martin didn’t lend his phone to someone and they put that incriminating stuff there. Wasn’t he also kicked out of school for position of drugs and tools used for burglary or I am confused by information overload? Anyway, I don’t think the jury got that info either.

They should but today I think they might be more worried about what happens to their town and their own safety if they don’t send Zimmerman to jail. It’s not like the fan of Martin are above giving out addresses of people.

I guess the cellphone stuff was kept out because they couldn’t prove that Martin didn’t lend his phone to someone and they put that incriminating stuff there.

Cindy Munford on July 13, 2013 at 1:04 PM

There is a very good chance they could have gotten some of it in if given the time to authenticate it.

The defense was not given the time needed to authenticate the contents of the phone. They barely had the time to find out what was on the phone. The information was dumped on them on the eve of the trial, even though the prosecution had it at least since January. The defense should have had it at least since January. Further, they only found out about it because someone blew a whistle. And the IT director who blew the whistle on that was fired by Corey yesterday.

Further, when this happened the defense asked for a continuance for the purpose of processing that evidence. The judge denied the request.

LOL! I linked it above. I live in Jacksonville, it was on the front page this morning. I think this was a really bad move on her part. A lot of us thought her clinging behavior towards the Martin family was pretty unprofessional to begin with but the pension upgrade had gotten past me. I don’t know if I am representative of the average voter but I plan to a bit of complaining.

I’d be really surprised if Zimmerman is found not guilty. From what I’ve heard the State has laid out a smorgasbord of charges for the jury to choose from in order to increase the chance of finding him guilty of something.

Was reading last night about how they tried Hal Turner in Federal court…one hung jury, then another and finally a conviction. They won’t take no for an answer when they sink their teeth into someone.

So, even if Zimmerman is found not guilty, I seriously doubt that will be the end of his legal troubles.

One last thing, it is clear that the Dems have weighed in on this case politically, but where are the Republicans? Where’s St. Rubio?

Of course Republicans will stay away because they don’t want to be accused of being racists-this is all about race you know…/s

I think everyone new the jig was up when Obama said if he had a son he would look like Trayvon. He doesn’t seem to care about all those possibilities in his home town. According to Legal Insurrection and the link he provided of the options for the jury (my comment at 12:50 p.m.) there are not a lot of options for Mr. Zimmerman and if found guilty of any of the allowable charges he is going to spend a looong time in prison. Unless the jury is well versed in Florida law they have no way of knowing that the “lesser” charge holds almost as much time as the maximum.

The longer the jury remains out the worse it looks for Zimmerman.I thought this would be a slam dunk for the defense.

celtic warrior on July 13, 2013 at 3:06 PM

nah, don’t think so. they are looking over what little meaningful evidence there really is. they haven’t asked for any more information, have they? there are already 4 or 5 of these women with a not guilty verdict but 1 or 2 that need a little more time. the leader of the pack doesn’t want to go out after 8 hrs of deliberation and tell the judge they are hung up. One of those ladies has worked in law enforcement and another was arrested for domestic violence herself. They would have an inkling how long Zimmerman would be put away with a guilty verdict. They also know he’s a pretty mild mannered weakling and they they are trying to reckon with the prosecution asserting that he’s a ruthless killer of a kid. What if they were to let him go scott-free if that were true? Women like to mull stuff over…you know that.

They should but today I think they might be more worried about what happens to their town and their own safety if they don’t send Zimmerman to jail. It’s not like the fan of Martin are above giving out addresses of people.

Totally off-subject (sortuv), but I wish these “do-gooders” in Fla would come to the city in which I live and prosecute the murderers here, most of which are black on black, or chicano on chicano, or both perpetrating on whites in this town (mainly women). They are weekly in occurrence. It’s so common that I dread turning on the morning news to see how many happened last night.
Not even mentioning the daily count of petty crimes, robberies, rapes, sex crimes, knifings, and shootouts.

I’ve counted the crimes on occasion, with the rate of crime being 99% non-white. Where are those bussed-in protestors here?

I predicted a hung jury a week ago. And a week ago a hung jury would be bad news but then the judge (a life long Democrat) allowed the lesser charge of manslaughter–severely threatening Zimmerman’s freedom for the next 20 years or so. The long delay could mean hung jury–but, with the additional charge, perhaps this is good news.Still praying for acquittal.

Zimmerman deserves to be acquitted, but I can’t deny that a hung jury would be an interesting outcome, as in: would the prosecution with all of its problems go ahead with a retrial; would a hung jury lessen the potential for a violent aftermath?

It’s too bad because there are some commentators here who have a good take on the law and process (you are one). Legal insurrection is OK but there is not a lot of activity and Yahoo/Cnn/Fox… is a zoo. Even their expert bloggers suck and show extreme bias.

I don’t expect Allah or Ed to give much insight into this trial and it’s societal impact because they are not that in tune to the every day real world. They are better at the abstract then real time events but the commentators here are pretty good and I often lean on their insights. Even the libs have their moments. And the format is perfect.

It’s a shame that HA has begged out of this moment.

They have become tepid air. If it weren’t for Allah HA would have been all on board with the senate immigration bill. THey are gung ho for the NSA spying program. And if it wasn’t Obama’s war, and instead president Christie’s war, I bet they would be pushing for us to support the islamists in SYria.